Marty Loy grew up in Spring Green with his parents Alice and Bob, older sister Maryann and younger brother Shane. Marty played basketball until his freshman year when coach Rick Lawinger recruited him on to the wrestling team. Marty's dad had been a basketball player and his mom knew very little about wrestling other than what she watched on TV. When told of his decision to wrestle, his mom said absolutely not! After they got over the initial shock, they fully embraced the sport and became actively involved; Alice eventually serving as president of the wrestle-backers club.

Rick Lawinger, Marty's high school coach, was Wisconsin's first national wrestling champion. After breaking his arm in a JV tournament as a freshman, Marty came back and earned a varsity spot as a sophomore and became a single-class state finalist as a junior. He was also a three-time conference champion and team captain. Marty finished his high school career 79-16-1, which was a school record for most wins at the time. An avid freestyler, Marty won the state open twice and, in 1978, became a high school All-American placing fifth at Freestyle Junior Nationals. Marty made many friendships while traveling and competing in freestyle tournaments throughout the summers.

As a Badger from 1980-84, Marty was coached by Duane Kleven, Russ Hellickson and Mitch Hull (all Hall of Famers). Marty was an average wrestler at best on a great Badgers team that had 22 dual wins and was ranked 5th in the country in 1984. He was a three-year letter winner and placed in many college tournaments including the Northern Open, Midlands, Vegas and St Louis. Marty is most proud of one particular win against Penn State that propelled his team into the finals and ensuing Virginia Duals title. During the early 1980s, the Wisconsin wrestling room was filled with Olympians and Marty was privileged to work out with wrestling greats such as Andy Rein, Lee Kemp, Mitch Hull, Ron Jeidy, Laurent Soucie, Pat Christensen, and John and Ben Peterson.

After college, Marty served as assistant coach for two years at Merrill high school, where he had the pleasure of coaching with Hall of Farmers Roger Wendorf and Peter Leiskow. However, his greatest impact in wrestling came as a coach at UW-Stevens Point from 1987-98 where the Pointers program went from one of the worst in Wisconsin to one of the best in the nation. These 11 years were special, marked by hard work, challenges, successes and the creation of lasting friendships. These teams never took the easy way out. They wrestled the best in Division III and held several duals with the Division I Badgers, Purdue Boilermakers, Northern Illinois, Illinois State, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan and participated in many Division I tournaments. Although never winning a national title, there were three teams ranked among the best and deemed capable of winning it.

Much of the success during these years was due to the dedication of outstanding assistant coaches. Coaches such as Tom Gioglio, Terry Manning, Brett Penager, Walt Vering, Eric Burke and Johnny Johnson shared their time and talent to make UWSP wrestlers and teams successful.

Marty completed his coaching career at UWSP as its winningest coach with a 128-57-1 record, five conference titles, 34 conference champions, 27 All-Americans, three national champions and seven team top-10 NCAA Division III finishes. Marty was honored as conference coach of the year six times and was a national coach of the year finalist on three occasions. He was inducted into the UW-Stevens Point Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 and the NCAAIII Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007. These successes were only possible because of the influence of coaches and teammates he had throughout his career. After earning his doctorate from UW-Madison, Marty retired from coaching in 1998 to pursue a career in academia.

Today, Marty serves as dean of the College of Professional Studies at UW-Stevens Point where he is the chief officer for a college of 3,800 students and 150 faculty and staff who deliver 27 distinct bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. Prior to becoming dean, Marty served as professor of health promotion/wellness and then associate dean and chair of the School of Health Promotion and Human Development. In 2001, he received the university Excellence in Teaching Award and he has published two books: Childhood Stress: A Handbook for Parents Teachers and Therapists; and Losing a Parent to Suicide: Using Lived Experiences to Inform Bereavement Counseling. Marty and his wife Becky cofounded Camp HOPE in honor of their stillborn daughter Sara in 1989. Camp HOPE for grieving children has served as a model for similar camps around the country. Leading Camp Hope has been Becky's life work.

Nothing means more to Marty than his family. Married to Becky (Kraemer) for 32 years, they have raised four children, Maria (29), John (26), Ted (24) and Emma (13). He is proud of their successes and the people they have become.

1979 Graduate of River Valley High School1984, B.S., 2000, Ph.D. from UW-MadisonCurrently, Dean of the College of Professional Studies at UW-Stevens Point

River Valley HS, 1976-7979-16-1 High School Record 3-time SWAL Conference ChampionWIAA State Runner-up 2-time USWF State Freestyle ChampionUSWF Junior Nationals, 5th place